Persuasion

Over seven years before the novel opens, Anne Elliot, then a lovely, thoughtful, warm-hearted 19-year-old, accepted a proposal of marriage from the handsome young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. He was clever, confident, and ambitious, but poor and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Sir Walter, Anne's vain father and her equally self-involved older sister Elizabeth were dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement, for she, too, felt it was an imprudent match for one so young. They are the only ones who know about this short engagement, as younger sister Mary was away at school.